July 18, 2010

CSA - Week 6

So it's a week after I received this share of corn, yellow beans, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, red potatoes, blackberries, sugar peas, eggs, and a cucumber. I want to try and use it all up before I post, but I guess that's not an option now. Otherwise I'll get behind.

Here are some of the highlights from this week:

Chile Rubbed Steak Tacos - I love spicy meat paired with fresh, crunchy vegetables. I used the cucumber in the salsa for these tacos.

Pickled Sweet Wax Beans - Since I'm on a pickle craze, and I knew I'd never eat all the wax beans fast enough, I preserved some in a pickled state. These weren't as good (and by good, I mean sweet) as the bread and butter pickles, but still are a good snack.

Peach cobbler with blackberries - I modified my mom's peach cobbler recipe by making individual cobblers in ramekins. I threw in a few blackberries along with fresh peaches. Blueberries would also be good with peaches.

Ricotta and Zucchini Galette - This dish was heavenly. Not surprisingly, anything wrapped in buttery pie crust tastes heavenly. Follow this link for more on the galette.

1. In a small bowl stir together chili powder, garlic, cinnamon, salt and cayenne pepper. Rub spice mixture on both sides of steaks.

2. Grill or broil steaks for 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium rare, turning once. Remove from grill and let meat sit for 10 minutes. Carve into thin slices.

3. Warm tortillas by placing them on the grill, for about 30 seconds, turning once. Or place 6 tortillas at a time between 2 moist paper towels and microwave for 45 seconds. Wrap in cloth napkin or place in a tortilla warmer to keep warm.

4. Place the carved steak, warm tortillas, cabbage, cilantro, lime and Cucumber-Avocado Salsa in serving dishes and let diners make their own tacos at the table.

Place shucked corn ears into salted boiling water for 3 minutes…just to cook out the starch a bit.

Remove from boiling water and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking, when cool, remove and pat dry. Cut kernels off of the cob, holding the ear vertical, and cutting as close to the cob as you can without getting too much of the pith.

Throw corn, diced onions and black beans in a bowl and mix. Add in vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Make sure to taste along the way to get the seasoning right. If you will be serving it cold (from the refrigerator) season a little more heavily.

Right before serving, chiffonade the basil (or rough chop the cilantro), and toss in. Add tomatoes and toss.

This photo is a cobbler of all blueberries and blackberries. I made one this way and three with peaches and blackberries. Because this one bubbled over, it won the prize for best photo.